Jazz Trombone Ballads

alberttrombone · by **alberttrombone** » 2018-12-05 4:09 a.m.

Hello everybody!

Which are your favourite ballad recordings played by trombonists?

TromboneFox · by **TromboneFox** » 2018-12-05 2:40 p.m.

Hey!

Some of my favorites:

Carl Fontana on Polka Dots & Moonbeams. He's awesome. Great things to transcribe here. <YOUTUBE id="C7er7pUEnM4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7er7pUEnM4</YOUTUBE>

Bill Watrous on Body & Soul. A heavy classic. <YOUTUBE id="d0YUHLtWd0E">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YUHLtWd0E</YOUTUBE>

Urbie Green on Old Folks (a real nice, original buttery piece) <YOUTUBE id="PmqefKn2dVU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmqefKn2dVU</YOUTUBE>

Rick Culver from the Pat Metheny Big Band on Dream of the Return (kind of a rock-ish newer 90s feel straight-eighths ballad) <YOUTUBE id="-FJlQaveagA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FJlQaveagA</YOUTUBE>

Bill Watrous might be my favorite on a ballad, but Carl is great, too. Urbie is also good, but the musical complexity sometimes isn't there. Frank is a phenomenal musician, but sometimes his quick runs and hard tongue can be off-putting in a ballad, just personal preference though.

Jnoxon · by **Jnoxon** » 2018-12-05 4:21 p.m.

Most anything with Dick Nash! Hatari Theme, I cover the WaterFront and many more!

Pre59 · by **Pre59** » 2018-12-05 5:06 p.m.

Charlie Small.

Pick something out of this lot. <LINK_TEXT text="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... l+trombone">https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=charlie+small+trombone</LINK_TEXT>

Grah · by **Grah** » 2018-12-05 7:05 p.m.

Any ballad played by Tommy Dorsey. In fact, his whole band was the best at playing ballads, with the best ballad vocalists. And Tommy had such a wonderful tone for ballads.

jthomas105 · by **jthomas105** » 2018-12-07 3:41 p.m.

Bach5G · by **Bach5G** » 2018-12-07 3:49 p.m.

A standby is A Time for Love from the Watrous book.

Posaunus · by **Posaunus** » 2018-12-08 12:01 a.m.

[quote="jthomas105"]Lots of favorites including the ones already mentioned but Kai Winding is one of my big favorites for ballads.

Crazy She Calls Me

<YOUTUBE id="J7BiLtUXr7w" list="PLrVzqhIYV64Z3oU5eU7eErrk-_biEsD56"><LINK_TEXT text="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7BiLtU ... k-_biEsD56">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7BiLtUXr7w&list=PLrVzqhIYV64Z3oU5eU7eErrk-_biEsD56</LINK_TEXT></YOUTUBE>[/quote]

Since when did Kai Winding play left-handed? Couldn't the record company have used a non-mirror image photo for this album cover?

Jimkinkella · by **Jimkinkella** » 2018-12-08 7:56 p.m.

Urbie - At Last

Jimmy Knepper - Where Flamingos Fly

Conn100HGuy · by **Conn100HGuy** » 2018-12-10 1:34 p.m.

How's this - Dave Steinmeyer, And We Will Love Again.

<YOUTUBE id="gYHzp6yctsI">https://youtu.be/gYHzp6yctsI</YOUTUBE>

Grah · by **Grah** » 2018-12-11 8:23 p.m.

I would like to submit another name, that of Jimmy Cleveland, for his skill in playing ballads. He was also one of the most technically skilled of the bop-based trombonists, whilst retaining the wonderful characteristics of old-style jazz trombone playing:

<YOUTUBE id="xpUd1sYJ-d8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpUd1sYJ-d8</YOUTUBE>

Redthunder · by **Redthunder** » 2018-12-12 9:51 a.m.

<YOUTUBE id="u5NYI-BYUn0">~~[media]~~https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NYI-BYUn0</YOUTUBE>

Vegasbound · by **Vegasbound** » 2019-07-09 3:18 p.m.

As well as those already mentioned other great ballad players

Don Lusher too numerous to list but some of the best are on you tube

Buddy Morrow. Golden trombone a complete lp of ballads again on YouTube

Bart van Lier

Too name but three

Vinbone · by **Vinbone** » 2019-12-01 11:07 p.m.

Bill Watrous, one of the best, is smoother than butter. This recording is fantastic.

<YOUTUBE id="XRlyDo-YG64">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRlyDo-YG64</YOUTUBE>

DakoJack · by **DakoJack** » 2019-12-17 11:46 p.m.

Curtis always gets me, hard to pick one but definitly one of my favorites.

<YOUTUBE id="yHkH5OUgoKk">~~[media]~~https://youtu.be/yHkH5OUgoKk</YOUTUBE>

DakoJack · by **DakoJack** » 2019-12-18 12:10 a.m.

[quote="Pre59"]Charlie Small.

Pick something out of this lot. <LINK_TEXT text="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... l+trombone">https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=charlie+small+trombone</LINK_TEXT>[/quote]

Wasn't familiar with this guy, thank you this really beautiful stuff.

bigbandbone · by **bigbandbone** » 2019-12-18 8:41 a.m.

George Roberts with Stan Kenton. Bass bone at it's best.

<YOUTUBE id="ZYbnOfRIqgU">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYbnOfRIqgU</YOUTUBE>

BrassedOn · by **BrassedOn** » 2019-12-19 9:18 p.m.

John Allred’s “Eveline” on his album In the Beginning

And “Spring can Really Hang You Up the Most” on his Focused

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Jazz Trombone Ballads